“Modern” means something different to everyone
Situations like this aren’t isolated cases, because giving feedback is a skill that has to be learned.
Words like “modern,” “fresh,” or “high-quality” may seem very clear at first, but each of us imagines something different when we hear them. For you, “modern” might mean clean and minimalist, while for your design team, it might mean colorful and playful.
Feedback often already contains a solution: “Make the button red” instead of “The button isn’t visible enough.” If feedback like this is implemented without further thought, it quickly leads to endless feedback loops as well as wasted time and budget. This is completely normal, and we don’t expect our clients to speak the language of designers right away.
Ultimately, however, the quality of feedback is crucial to the quality of the outcome.
Providing good feedback is also part of our job
That’s why at Silberpuls, helping our clients give good feedback is part of our job.
In our design process, when clients ask for “more modern” designs, we ask them to clarify:
“What exactly strikes you as old-fashioned right now?” “Do you have an example of something you find modern?” “What do you want the site to convey to your customers?”
Once we understand what’s behind your feedback, we can translate it into clear action items for our designers. The bonus: Once we’ve identified the actual problem, we can propose better solutions.
Let’s take the red button as an example. The underlying issue is that the button isn’t visible enough. This gives our team more options for finding the best solution: higher contrast, a larger button, more white space, or a different visual hierarchy.
As a project manager at Silberpuls, I’m the only person on the team who isn’t a designer. I come from a product management background, have written business requirements documents, and earned a Six Sigma certification. All of these disciplines have taught me one thing: Good solutions start with a good problem analysis.
In Six Sigma, for example, the method is called “5 Whys”: keep asking “why” until the root cause is identified.
That’s exactly what I do today with feedback. I keep asking questions until I understand the problem, and then I translate it into a clear briefing for our designers. Always following the motto: If something is unclear to me, it leaves too much room for interpretation for our designers as well.
How to turn design feedback into a clear assignment
So keep these tips in mind for your next round of feedback, whether it’s for a design team or someone else:
Describe the problem, not the solution: “The button isn’t visible enough” is more helpful than “Make the button red.”
Provide references: If you’re looking for “more modern” designs, include screenshots or links as examples.
Explain what the design is meant to achieve: “Appeal to a younger target audience” or “Generate more inquiries via the form.”
It all starts with the question of “why”
“More modern” is a great starting point for feedback. To make it actionable, all it takes is for someone to ask what’s behind it. That’s exactly what we do at Silberpuls in every project. If you’re currently facing a design project, we’d be happy to ask you the same question.
